Sweden travel report – Day 3-5

It’s weekend baby! And so we decided to take it easy on day three, took a long walk into town for some food and watched a movie later on (Voces inocentes), before we went out. Jen and Polo took me to a rock bar called Kelly’s and after some drinks we went to Kvarnen a disco type place. Once again the extremely high alcohol prices became apparent (27 € for 6 pints). Since we all had a good time the next morning did not start until 2pm. We took a walk to get some air and then went shopping to catch up on brunch which was extensive and delicious (Jen and Polo really are the brunch masters). Nothing much happened for the rest of the day, so I’ll skip to my last day in Stockholm.

Sadly the National Museum was closed which was too bad, because I was looking forward to the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit. So I took on Kastellholmen a small island in the middle of Stockholm. It holds some beautiful buildings and a few other museums (which were closed as well).

I met Jenny for lunch and we said our goodbyes. I walked the streets of the Old Town some more, bought a few books and when I finally got bored I took the bus to the airport and safely landed at Frankfurt-Hahn later that night. Stockholm really is an amazing town and I deeply enjoyed my stay there. Many thanks again to Jen and Polo for their hospitality.

Sweden travel report – Day 2

After a good night’s sleep we returned to Stockholm central, this time by metro. Jen showed me her workspace at the Danske Bank and then we parted ways again. I had planned to visit several museums that day, but to my disappointment they all didn’t open until 11 am. So I had to kill some time and I decided to walk around a bit and take in the sights and enjoy the sunny day. I noticed a small church with a graveyard around and while I was taking some pictures, a friendly older Swedish lady explained some of the floral work around the facility.

Around 11 I entered the Historika Museet and took an audio guide of the Prehistory and the Viking exhibit. Another attraction at this museum is the Gold Room, a round chamber that holds 52 kilos of pure gold and more than 200 kilos of silver. Furthermore you can see an extensive exhibit of medieval church art on the second floor. This was probably the best of the three museums that I visited this day. It gave a decent overview of the past and best of all it had every information in both Swedish and English.

Next up was the Armémuseum which covers wars from the Viking age to the present time. It holds a large collection of weapons and artillery from all the different eras. I really liked the thorough exhibit, even though only the major displays were translated into English. Non-Swedish speakers are often left to wonder what exactly they are looking at. It was interesting to learn that Sweden was in so many wars, yet managed to stay completely out of the Second World War.

Last and sadly least was the Musikmuseet. It holds an extensive collection of musical instruments and shows different ensembles in Sweden from the 17^th century to ABBA. I was a bit disappointed in this exhibit, probably this was also due to the large group who was in there at the same time and made it impossible to study the displays properly.

I met up with Jenny around 17:00 but before we headed home we stopped at a beer store (yes they have stores only for beer in Sweden, because you can’t sell anything with more than 3 percent of alcohol at a supermarket). When we got back to the apartment, Polo’s girlfriend Marie had arrived as well and we all had some beers and watched some funny videos.

Part 3 is coming up…

Sweden travel report – Day 1

As I previously stated I visited my old school mate Jenny Roch in Stockholm and I thought I would share some of my experiences with you. I took a plane (Ryanair) from Frankfurt-Hahn and landed safely at Skavsta airport around noon. After an 80 minute bus drive I arrived in the capital and had the afternoon to myself (my friend was still working until 5 that day). I remembered the picturesque Old Town from my first trip to Stockholm (about 8 years ago) and so I decided to walk its beautiful streets and check out the different shops. I had a small bite at a tiny bistro and then started my walk, listening to The Cure.

The streets of the Old Town are narrow and filled with shops of all varieties, the best of them being a science fiction bookstore that had everything to satisfy the true nerd (Books, Dvds, RPGs and even Graphic Novels). After having walked the main streets up and down a few times I visited the Nobel Museum which also hosted the exhibition design4science (images of the world of molecular biology). At the museum, you can find all the information on the Nobel Prize, its founder and the laureates. After the brief museum visit I walked around some more and stumbled on the Royal Palace situated in the Old Town. It reminded me a bit of Buckingham Palace with all the guards standing outside.

Around 17:30, I met up with Jenny and we walked to her apartment, where I got to meet her roommate Polo. We had a typical Swedish diner (mashed potatoes, vegetables and meatballs with lingonberry jam) and I simply dropped into bed. More about my trip to Sweden later…

(To see all the pictures of my trip, click on the title of this post)